Synopsis: Two men exploring the Louisiana swamps encounter a Bigfoot-type creature.

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Calamity Brains:

Creature from Black Lake was acceptable.

Honestly, that’s all you really need to know. It’s not great, but neither is it offensive. It’s about half an hour longer than it needs to be, but the effects and music aren’t terrible, and there’s some mild attempts at characterization. Although I felt like the “mystery” angle surrounding the creature was overplayed here, I understood why the filmmakers did it, and it was never painfully bad.

Since Pahoo (Dennis Fimple) and Rives (John David Carson) are students trying to research the story of the creature and determine if it’s real, the movie is fairly slow and mostly focuses on them trying to learn more from the locals. But the locals are all fairly close-mouthed for reasons that don’t entirely make sense, which means a lot of the movie is just character interaction. And while Pahoo and Rives aren’t boring, neither of them is interesting enough to carry that much of the movie.

Most of the action comes at night at the end, though we do hear the titular creature a few other times throughout the movie. The filmmakers wisely relied on a combination of MonsterVision and darkness to keep the audience from getting too good a look at the creature, which was probably for the best. Aside from one surprise, the movie generally goes as you’d expect.

If you’re a fan of cryptid movies, this one isn’t terrible. It’s also not great, though – those who aren’t fans of the subgenre can probably find something better suited for their evening pleasure.

Calamity Brains’ Rating: C
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